Diffusion of Innovations

 The Diffusion of Innovations describes the process of adoption of a new technology, showing it to follow a bell curve. One such technology that followed the theory is the smartphone. The smartphone had multiple iterations, but we can see the clear beginning stages of the early adopters from as early as 1994  with the "Simon Personal Communicator" by IBM. (pictured below)

Early adopters started slowly, building momentum until around some point around 2008, where they became the early majority, with smartphones building in adoption rates continuously until smartphone adoption rates hit 50% in 2012. Most of the western world now owns a smartphone, and we are now in the process of leaving the late majority to the "Laagards", i.e. only the Amish and people very averse to them are left. So companies seek other markets in lesser developed countries, and push heavily for adoption in those regions to drive sales. I see no real downside to every human on the planet owning a device which connects them to a global communication network, allowing free discussion to the masses. Besides when those communication platforms are manipulated for profit or other motive, smartphones allow a window into the global consciousness.